


Yet Another Chance

by MrsAuthorly



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Deaths That Haven't Happened, F/F, F/M, I Ship Ships, I Tried, M/M, Mentions of P.T.S.D, Mentions of Panic Attacks, P.T.S.D Will Be Later On, Three Years After Season 3, help me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-27 09:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsAuthorly/pseuds/MrsAuthorly
Summary: Petra Ral awoke in a strange village.She remembered.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart, Levi Ackerman/Petra Ral, Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager, etc
Comments: 18
Kudos: 53





	1. Awaken, Petra Ral

Her eyes dared to break the sleeping crust that had built up for many of days. She was blinded by a light, and she would've told herself that this was the after life, after all, it was warm.

Yet, when she cracked her finger from the dead sleep it had been in, she figured out- with that stinging pain- this was _definitely_ not any sort of after life. At least, not the type that everyone had imagined.

Her hearing began coming back, her sense of smell, and her touch.

Daringly, she grazed her finger tip along the edge of the bed she was apparently on, and her hand flopped off. She furrowed her brow, letting out a grunt. She figured out, that wasn't the best sound to make today.

She barely remembered anything.

What had occurred?

Did she have another harsh training session with her team? Perhaps she was sent to bed early.

Her mind clicked on when she thought harder about everything that happened. There was the forest, the Female Titan, and then..

_Petra's eyes widened as she watched the Titan's foot come down._

_She knew it was useless to try to get away, especially at this speed. She didn't know what to do other than think back._

_She watched her life flash before her eyes, playing slowly; like a soothing melody, preparing her for the death that was about to claim her._

_In that moment, she let a soft smile spread, even if the look of fear, staring into the Female Titan's eyes, still danced on her features._

_In that moment, she knew._

_Everything would be alright._

_Yes, Heichou and the rest would be alright._

_A flutter of a picture made her mind go into more peace._

_Levi.._

Her heart jumped, her stomach lurched, and she sat up, leaning over the side of the bed as her stomach rejected any sort of food that had entered her in her coma like state.

Yet, how did she acquire such food?

Suddenly, her mind was on a blank alert, a fool's adrenaline rushing into her.

A few voices entered her ears, and stuck around for quite a bit. Soon enough, a hand was, swiftly, moving up and down her back, helping her dry heave the rest.

From what her sense of touch told her, she knew that the hand had longer nails, and was rather small. Sort of like her own. She wondered if it would be alright to assume if the person that the hand belonged to was a female.

Lifting her head up, she tried to focus on the woman, and said woman started wiping her mouth with a rag.

Petra finally got her focus in touch, and she widened her eyes.

When she attempted to speak, her voice was hoarse, and her throat was raw and dry. The mysterious woman gave her some water, and she greedily chugged it down with some help.

Letting the cold water flow down her throat, she attempted to speak once again, this time, her voice being much smoother than usual- it didn't sound like her own.

"Who are you?" She questioned.

The woman let out a laugh, "Ah should bay askin' yawl thet!" The accent was heavily Southern, and Petra couldn't help but crack a smile. "Ahm Annamae! Who is yawl, young lady?"

She shifted a little, "I'm Petra Ral, I'm part of the Survey Corps. Where am I?"

Annamae's eyes darkened as she took in Petra's look. "Yawl rilly is thet missin' whoamun, yayus. Ahl bay raht back." The older woman then stood, walking out of the room. 

Petra pursed her lips, wondering what was haunting the woman, before she had a thought click her mind. What if she was going to grab someone who could take her home?

Her excitement boiled through her as she sat up straighter- and felt something graze her back.

Curious, she finally looked behind her.

Her hair was long. _Very_ long. It was even underneath her! 

With an even more curious interest bubbling through her veins, she tossed the blanket off, before her eyes widened at her bare legs.

Scars, many scars.

They looked like they belonged to tree-branches, as if she fell or hit a tree.

Definitely the latter.

She took a deep breath, swallowing back a lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. She slowly eased herself off the bed, learning that it was much harder to stand than she thought.

Obviously, she was in a coma for quite a while, and she had to focus to stand, unlike the normal, 'oh, look at that, I'm standing.'

She didn't know how long she was in that coma, but it felt like forever, yet so short.

After a few minutes of standing up and down, carefully, to try and get her legs a bit better than they seemed to be, she lifted from the bed with a triumphant grin.

Carefully walking toward the mirror, trying to not force any sort of noise to creak from the older wood, she watched as her hair flowed down, completed at the back of her knees.

She let out a little squeak, yet she was surprised, at least a tad bit, to find that it was washed, well kept, and obviously the knots were non-existent. 

Slowly and steadily, she ran her fingers through her hair. She also noticed another change.

She looked much older than she remembered herself to be. 

Her face took on a bit more of a feminine shape, as did the rest of her body. She was even a tad taller than normal.

Looking around, she spotted a knife. As much as she liked this hair, she needed to cut it off, and a knife would do.

Petra walked over, picking the knife up. She went back to the mirror, standing as she sucked in a breath. 

Handling the knife like an absolute pro, more so like what her _Heichou_ had taught her to do, she drifted the knife to her hair. She tucked the blade into the thick mess, hair slowly falling from her, a few strands staying on her shoulders as she continue with a concentrated look.

It was like cutting the flesh of a Titan, easy. The only thing that one had to watch out for was the mouth.. or, the hand.. the elbow.. or even the.. 

Petra shook her head, this was no time to be thinking about her step closer to death. She, instead, focused on the fact that she was there, and she was alive, and she was going to see the rest of everyone.

Then, she realized- if it had been a few months, she wouldn't have changed like this. Possibly a year or two had passed. She furrowed her brows as she stared into the mirror, her hair halfway chopped off.

She swallowed yet another lump, carefully placing her hand at her side. What if they had forgotten her? Did she leave her mark on anyone? Did everyone else change?

Was Levi alive?

Last she remembered, the rest of the Levi squad had passed on. Except for herself. Was she the only one now? The grief settled in, placing an empty spot in her heart as her normally lively eyes dulled.

Continuing, she chopped off her hair with careful precision. 

Her thoughts drifted. If she was the last one alive, what was there to live for? 

She growled at herself, gripping the knife harder. What would Levi think of these thoughts? She didn't have time to think about what there was to live for, she promised herself she would fight until the day she died.

She almost did.

But, she was alive, and she had to make up for all the time she spent sleeping.

She cut off the last bit of the lengthy hair. The cut wasn't perfect, frizzled slightly at the end, with slightly longer lengths, reaching her ears, but she decided it suited her much better than the long hair.

The older woman came back, gasping at the sight. "Yawl look butiful! Hare, let may klane it up-" She grabbed the broom, but came to a stop as Petra snatched it away.

"No, ma'am, this is my mess. I'll clean it." 

"Oh, yore sweet."

"What were you doing when you walked outside, if you don't mind me intruding on that?" Petra questioned. She was used to tearing the information out of people, not asking, yet she decided it was the most respectful thing she could do.

Annamae looked at her in confusion, "Whut wuz Ah doin'?" Then, like a light bulb smacked her in the head, she cheerfully exclaimed. "Raht!" 

She excitedly claimed, "Way got into contact with chur Survey Corps' leader, Levi an Hanji or sumpn!"

Petra's heart did a jump, and tears welled in her vision. They were still alive? 

They really did fight 'till the end.

She wiped the tears that sprang from her vision, as she questioned, still cleaning up her hairy mess. "When will they arrive, ma'am?"

"Thay sayud thay'll bay hare as soon as possible! Thay need tuh ride thur horses tuh git hare, so it'll take uh couple uh airs, in mah opinion." 

Petra's heart clenched, and she started trembling as her mind filled with euphoria. She gripped onto the broom as tight as possible, as if it could hold her.

"Come hare, few need tuh cry, do so, young lady." 

Upon those words, Petra's heart drowned in sorrow yet happiness, as she walked to the woman, stumbling into her motherly hold.

It was quite a while before they parted, but they needed to do so after Petra had begun to get hungry.  After all, who wouldn't be hungry after, apparently, three years.   


She had took an hour or two to realize the difference of that, _three damn years_. She decided to just shrug it off until her _Heichou_ and Hanji-San got there.

The older woman, Annamae, told Petra many stories of what had occurred over time, advancement in technology, different things being found, and more. 

At one point, Petra had questioned if she could see her old gear, before being informed that they had tossed it out. It was far too drenched in blood for her to ever dawn it again, and the older woman had mentioned that she had grown over the last three years, it would likely not fit her.

She agreed, forcing back the tears. She was then told of what happened when she had, well, 'died.' More specifically, how they had found her.

_ "Ahm fardy years ode, yet yawl thray kaynt evun fuckin' faller may!? Come on, now!" Annamae yelled, as her two sons hauled themselves over the hill. _

_ She groaned in annoyance, before leading the way once they had fully came over the hill. She gripped onto branches to heave herself over certain rocks.  _

_ Travis and Johnathan, Travis being the youngest, and Johnathan being the oldest, drifted from side to side tiredly.  _

_ Travis let out a yelp when he came into contact with something strange- it didn't feel like a rock at all, possibly a fallen branch, and as soon as he had fell, the thundering steps of a Titan rumbled through the forest. _

_ Johnathan and Annamae ran to get behind the tree Travis was at, and hid her two boys with her hug. She had whispered of how much she loved her sons, and how she was so sorry for bringing them to their death. _

_ A loud screech, possibly a female, filled the air. A thud echoed into the tree as they watched the Titan, who seemed to be a female, rush off after the thud. _

_ When they deemed it safe enough, they walked out. Gasping at the sight, they immediately rushed to grab her. _

_ The woman with short hair had blood spilling from her, her arm bent in a strange direction behind her back, as her legs were spread far apart. Her eyes had seemed lifeless from afar, yet, taking a closer look, a spark was fighting for the light of the day to dawn over her. _

_ Shedding of the green.. thing, that dawned her shoulders and neck, they carefully picked her up. It was a very lucky moment to realize that only her legs had gotten stomped, not her back; while there would definitely be a forming bruise there, she would be able to heal over time without being paralyzed, or dead; if they got her back to their village in time. _

_ A few months passed, and Travis had lost hope with her. He had attempted to throw her out, before Johnathan gripped onto him. He told him to keep hope, despite everything seemingly hopeless; she was still breathing, and her heart was beating. _

_ Annamae scolded him, and he realized he would've traded a life for nothing. _

_ Three years later, Travis and Johnathan had left to join the Survey Corps. They promised to keep in touch, and Annamae continued to tell them about Petra, how she moved slightly.  _

_ The two boys had soon found out that Petra was rather famous there, and they then decided to continue calling her Petra until she awoke.  _

_ Months ago, before Petra had awoke, Johnathan passed away after being eaten by a Titan. It had took quite a while for Annamae and Travis to recover, but they did so; and they're back, stronger than ever, with an even stronger and soothing bond. _

"Travis iz still in chur line uh work, but hay got injured uhwahl back, broke his dawgone leg. He'll bay comin' back home soon. You'll probly meet him, wheyun yawl go back, which should bay in an air or so." Annamae finished explaining with a huff of her breath.  


Petra stared in amazement, "I- I never told you this, but- thank you.." She whispered, tears beginning to spill once again. "Thank you, so much, I'm so sorry you went through this pain- but-"

The older woman interrupted her, "Do yawl promise tuh write tuh may, Miss Ral?" 

Almost immediately, the younger woman began nodding. "Of course! I'll write as soon as I arrive back.. which- is in an _hour_.."

She stood, "I should mentally prepare myself, ma'am. Do you mind if I go lie down for a bit?"

Annamae shook her head, "Help churself, young lady. Ahl go set up thuh village fahwar thur arrival, an fahwar chur exit."

Petra turned, leaving with a soft 'goodbye', and she tread toward the home. What would they think of her, if both were coming? Would she still be good enough, to serve and to protect their family inside the walls?

Speaking of family.. how was her father?

Was he still alive?

She wished she would've wrote him a longer letter, about how much of a fantastic father he was. And, probably still is. 

Petra let out a distressed sigh, wondering- would her father be proud of her? She survived, would he allow her to go back? Well, she'd have to force him, since she is her own grown woman..

Yet, part of her wanted to stay peaceful. 

Then again, where was peace, when she could be without them? It was better to fight and die, rather than to stay weak and live. That was the best choice, for herself, and for those innocent women, children, and men inside those walls.

She lost herself in her thoughts, something she found herself often doing, and she bumped into someone. That snapped her out, and she squeaked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

The young woman opened her eyes to a child, who smiled at her with one of the most innocent faces she had ever come into contact with.

"Hello, miss! You're Petra Ral, right? The one who was asleep for a while?" The child excitedly questioned.  


Before the said woman could even answer, the child interrupted any sort of breath coming from her.

"You got squashed! At least, that's what our elder says! There was-" 

_ 'Squashed.' _

The memories came back to her, once again. She remembered everything, from the pain, to the sight.  


Those cold, dead, eyes staring at her; wide with murder rushing through the Female Titan's veins. Then, the screams inside of her mind, echoing forever. 

Her heart clenched, a deep reminder- this child had triggered something in her, and she wanted to get rid of it. This aching pit in her stomach, swallowing her whole, was rushing through her body.

She gripped onto the cloth where her heart was, as if an attempt- a sorry attempt, at that- to calm herself down. It was like she was on the battlefield again.

That sickening _crack_ of her legs, blood making a squelch sound, swishing through her body. 

She should've died.

But she didn't.

She should've went with everyone else, but she didn't. Why? Why did she need to be plagued?

A sickening sob fluttered from her throat, her breathing becoming erratic, and her throat felt as though it was closing, to the point she was choking on her own saliva that she had tried to swallow down.

In that moment, as she hit the ground- kneeling to the Gods who had put them through all this pain, she knew that she wasn't strong enough. Not without them.

_ A pair of hands, rough, landed on her shoulder, gripping onto her like she was their life line. She couldn't help but find it.. comforting. _


	2. Your Love

_A pair of hands, rough, landed on her shoulder, gripping onto her like she was their life line. She couldn't help but find it.. comforting. _

She awoke in the bed, just like last time. It felt like, with all the tense muscles in her body, she was re-awaking from the deep slumber she was once in all over again.

Quickly gripping onto the sheets, she lifted from the bed with a frantic motion. She knew why she had passed out, but she didn't know who put her in the bed. No offense to the older woman, but Petra was too heavy for the lady to carry.

She threw off the covers, standing from the bed. The first smell that blew through her nose was the smell of coffee.

It was a type of brew that.. _Levi used to drink._

Caught off guard, she stumbled toward that smell, pausing as she stared right into the eyes of Levi Ackerman. She couldn't think at this moment, but she knew those dark eyes anywhere.

The gray- no, the word gray was too boring for eyes such as his.

Those _silver_ eyes were all she saw. Her entire being did a flip, and she stumbled away, falling backwards. That was very informal and she was angry at herself for doing something such as that.

She was caught by the dearest Ackerman male in front of her, who had dropped his coffee long onto the wood, letting it spill and stain the wood, as he side and arm tightly.

He pulled her closer, into a very un-Levi like thing; a hug.

"You're fucking reckless." His cold voice flew through her ears. Despite the words meaning something darker, despite the cold voice that was almost as sharp as a knife, it was like a lullaby- a soothing, familiar, sound. One she needed to hear more than anything.

Inhaling, she let out a sigh as she placed her wobbly arms around him. "You're even more so, _Heichou._ " She responded. Then, Hanji walked in, staring with wide eyes. **_(A/N: I forgot when they fucking lost their eye, deal with it)_**

It must've been weird, to hold your supposed-to-be-dead comrade, yet Petra continued to be held by someone who was a mere inch taller than her.

The third person let out a snort, "Awe, you show affection to her, but not to me? I feel personally attacked." They pouted, a grin trying to form on their face.

"Shut the fuck up and die, Four-Eyes." He growled out, backing away from Petra. The mess was bugging him, and he had to clean it up. He left the room for just a moment, took a long look at Petra- just to make sure she was _there_ , and that he wasn't _dreaming_.

Carefully, Levi picked up the dropped cup and cleaned up the coffee's mess as good as these lack of cleaning supplies allowed him.

Hanji walked over with their shoulders held high, and their eyes sparkling with delight at Petra's healthy appearance. "Looks like you're good as new, hm?" They grinned widely.

Petra shifted awkwardly, her eyes dulling as she lowered her head to the ground.

"I'm.." Hanji looked toward where her gaze fell, and also began staring at the many scars littering her pale skin. "..banged up, but I'll be good as new when I start training again." She claimed, her dull eyes lifting toward her also littered arms.

Levi and Hanji stiffened, with the man looking up from the ground with the obvious question. "You want to fucking go back to that shit? After you almost died, Petra?"

She chuckled lightly, looking back down at her legs, moving them around a little as she spoke.

"It's not like I have anything else to do with my life. I either sit here waiting for you all to return safely, or I go out and make sure everyone returns safely. The Survey Corps isn't just my job anymore, and it never will be just a job."

She sharply exhaled, both of the two's eyes staring into her very being. After a moment, she looked up, they were both standing in front of her, and so she stood firm and tall, to match them;

"Like it or not, I'm coming back, one way or another."

Hanji let out a chuckle, breaking the daring silence. "As if we _wanted_ you to leave! What a joke. You know, you're the only one that Levi likes, after all." They grinned cheekily.

Levi coughed at that, turning on his heel toward the door. "We're leaving in a bit. Get your shit ready, and.. Pe- Ral?"

"Yes, _Heichou_?"

"Glad you're back."

"I'm glad, too."

It was a long ride back.

Hanji had pestered her into riding with Levi, so there she sat, her arms wrapped around her leader in a very awkward matter, and him regularly looking over his shoulder- as if she wasn't supposed to be real.

Technically, she wasn't.

She, again, should've died, along with the rest. She wondered if any of them were.. jealous.

Not of her looks, not of her voice, not of anything specifically of _her_ ; more so of the fact that she got a second chance, instead of them.

Honestly, the ones who deserved that second chance were the ones that had been long gone. If she could have, at the time, she would've given them a second chance instead of herself.

What if all of them had a second chance, actually? It'd be much sweeter than her coming back from the dead, only to find that she might possibly be useless.

Was she still even considered a part of the Survey Corps? Would she need to retake anything specific?

Maybe she had lost her game, perhaps she had became.. rusty, during that time. What if she causes someone to die over her mistakes?

How was Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, and the rest? She knew she shouldn't pray that what Hanji had told her was a lie, about her fears being confirmed, that the rest of team Levi was dead, and sort of replaced.

Yet, she still had a sliver of hope, dangling weakly.

Without realizing it for a bit, she noticed how her face was much colder than when she got up there- in specific spots, such as underneath her eyes, down her cheeks, and then she felt the drop of water on her hand.

She looked up, curiously, to see if it was raining.

There were no clouds in sight.

Placing her hand on her cheek, having to remove her arm from around Levi, which caused him to look back in a bit of concern, she placed it over her small tear stream that had recently flowed down her face.

His horse skidded to a stop, causing Hanji to yelp, forcing their horse to a stop, and look back. "What happened!? Is there a Titan!? Wait- No, you would've went faster..-"

He looked back. Despite that usual cold demeanor he held, she could see the little furrow in his brow of concern. She sniffled, wiping her tears away. "Apologies, Hanji-san! We're fine-"

"Are you sure you want to rejoin the Survey Corps?"

The question, once again, struck her hard.

He continued, despite the surprised and conflicted look on Petra's face, and the look of confusion on Hanji's.

"You'll probably find it a lot fucking emptier without Jinn, Schultz, and Bozado. It'll be damn different, too different. Your heart is pretty fucking pure, and your mind is on the right track, but soon that will be fucked up without a second thought." He let out a sigh as he stared longer at her, before finally continuing. "Think about it like this; fight for _you_ , not for the rest of those damn brats."

Petra's eyes couldn't get wider, before she began laughing loudly. This was one of the few times that she had ever laughed in front of him.

Finally, clearing her throat, she snickered.

" _Heichou_ , the entire reason I'm alive is for others. Don't get me wrong, I'd live either way, but I'm only truly living when I'm home. I love my father, and I would go to Hell and back for him, but _you are my home_. All of the Survey Corps' soldiers are a part my home. I've lost some bits and pieces, but I'll get them back; you just need to trust me, and help me along the way. I'm a tad rusty in this department, I suppose."

Rather than answering her, he simply turned, whistling a command to the horse.

She scrambled to wrap her arms around him, not feeling like falling off a horse this day, after she had just came back, and held onto him tightly- as if _he was her life line_.

Relaxing a bit, checking on Hanji after a moment to see them forcing their horse to run as fast as it could to go in front of Levi, she rested herself on his back, placing her forehead on the nape of his neck.

_"I'll live and die for you, Heichou."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BECAUSE OF VEE6969 MENTALLY TORTURING ME;
> 
> Here is ANOTHER CHAPTER. After this one, I swear to fuck I'll get on schedule. Maybe. I need another coffee, fucking hell. And, yay, romance. Yay. Y a y . Dude, it's so fucking awkward to write romance when it's just yourself. 


	3. Greetings, She's Alive

_"I'll live and die for you, Heichou."_

Those words dared to haunt the man known as Levi Ackerman, and he disliked it, very much so. He had seen many die, speak their last words, yet never has he been given this sort of promise. He didn't expect it, especially from a person who was still alive.

It took a while, yet they made it to the familiar Wall Rose, and inside.

Suspiciously, it was a rather smooth ride. No Titan was able to detect them. Hanji wrote it off as luck, but Petra couldn't help but think outside of the box. What happened was out of the ordinary, too out of it.

People eyed a specific horse that carried two people on it's back, and eyed a specific woman who would've been wrote off as dead.

Petra shifted uncomfortably at the stares, and Levi answered to the silence. "You were supposed to be dead, you should've expected these stares."

He, himself, was uncomfortable with these daring stares, it was shone with how tense he was. He never was one for fame, or want for the attention, so he simply did his job and walked out like a fucking boss.

"I know." The woman murmured, turning to look over at a few of them. At the corner of her vision, she could've sworn she saw someone who mimicked Eren's look.

Furrowing her brows, she lifted to look back, only to find that he wasn't even there- just an empty spot of where someone once stood.

Levi looked back, giving her a questioning gaze, to which she answered with, "Thought I saw something, sorry, _Heichou_."

He grunted in return, looking back. There were some people getting in the road, saying that they couldn't leave to where they were heading without giving answers.

Hanji and Levi simply stomped through. Anyone who got a broken ankle crawled away like the bitch they were.

Petra's eyes glistened with wonder at the stables, still looking the same as usual. She grew a wide smile on her face. Never had she ever felt so relieved to see something familiar, rather than something new.

Stopping just before they reached the stables fully, Levi and Hanji both hopped down from their horses.

And she froze.

For some reason, she seemed to have forgotten how to get down. That created a surge of panic in her. Normally, she was the first one off of her horse, yet- had it been too long?

She shook her head, and moved her other leg over to the other side of the horse. Carefully, she gripped onto the saddle, holding onto it for dear life, as she lowered herself onto the ground.

It was a wobbly landing, but she made it. Looking up, she could see Hanji staring at her legs- seeing if she was about to fall or not, and Levi was staring into her soul, practically judging her entire being.

She gave a small smile, and the two simply went on with their day- or, she hoped that. Levi took the horse into the stall, taking off the saddle. Hanji strolled inside.

Petra looked into the stall, seeing Levi ready to walk off, " _Heichou_? Are you going to clean him?"

"Levi." He corrected. But, which part did he correct?

She awkwardly cleared her throat, "What?"

Letting out an annoyed sigh, he tilted his head back, staring at her with his silver gray eyes. "Call me Levi when we're alone. After all, you're not even on the damn team, _yet_."

She was going to protest, but as soon as she opened her mouth to possibly do so, he glared even harder, before turning to the horse. "I'll clean him later. Hanji's probably running their mouth right now, so we should go before they say something shitty."

"Alright,-" She paused, furrowing her brows, before she smiled. "- Levi."

If a smile was on his face, neither mentioned it, though the look was embedded in a certain woman's mind.

Levi walked inside, Petra close behind him, and immediately were they met with stares; Sasha Blouse, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein, and Eren Yeager.

**_(A/N: I'm losing braincells. If Eren was not here a year before Season four started, please state as such, but I'm not gonna change it because of the interactions soon to come, which are too many to get rid of.)  
_ **

Hanji was yelling out to them, "When you see her, do not stare-" And then they followed the Survey Corps' stares. They let out a frustrated sigh, "I'm grabbin' me a drink. Levi, you deal with this shit."

"Good riddance." He sighed, after Hanji walked off. Petra let out a giggle, which startled the six people in the room. She stared up at them, squinting her eyes.

They looked, different, to say the least. It was almost too different for her to even notice who they all were. Specifically Armin and Jean had changed- and.. Eren, he had long hair.

She bit the inside of her cheek. They all looked less and less like the children she had seen three years ago. Shifting, their stares following where she went, she let a warm smile spread across her face.

"Hello."

Sasha screeched, throwing a potato at her, to which Levi grabbed onto right as it was about to hit Petra. He glared at the brown haired girl,- if looks could kill, one Sasha Blouse would be murdered ten times over.

"This, brats, is Petra Ral. Mikasa, Armin, and Eren are familiar with her. I don't know, nor do I fucking care, if anyone else is familiar. She is a former part of Special Operators Squad. She will also be continuing her duties once she's finished with her training with the newer weapons."

He simply threw the potato at Sasha, hitting her in the forehead, to which Connie immediately attempted to consult with her before she raged at a fucking _Ackerman_.

Petra tensed at this throw. She should've been able to grab it, not have someone grab it for her. She looked down toward the ground, she'd- at this rate- die within the first minute of a mission.

A hand's shadow caught her attention, even more so when it landed on her shoulder once again. Looking up- more so, looking an inch up- she stared at Levi. He spoke up after a moment, "If you need me, you know where I'm likely located."

Memories coming back to her, her eyes brightened at the new familiarity she was receiving. "Yes, _Heichou_." With that, he walked off, with yet another glare- this time, toward everyone.

She swallowed at the silence, before smiling at them. She bowed. "Hello, I'm Petra Ral. It's a pleasure to meet you all once again." She lifted, seeing some tears drifting down some faces. "My, my, how you've all grown. It seems like yesterday when I last saw you, Eren, with shorter hair- Mikasa, you seem like you've gotten quite the hair cut. Armin, you look much less like.. er.. someone to hide behind a rock; much stronger, indeed."

It was only then that she was trampled by these three. No matter the blood-lust that through their bodies for a loop with Titans, they were still children in her eyes, and deep in their mind's perspective.

She threaded her fingers through some black hair and blonde, then brown, and she soon wept with them, wrapping her arms around the younger ones.

Mikasa, she was rather surprised to see how the girl cried, as this rarely ever occurred. Armin, she wasn't too surprised, but she was proud to know that she made an impact on the boy. Eren, she honestly wasn't surprised at all- the boy had mentioned many of times that she was like a mother to him. To all three of them.

Petra offered more room, and soon Sasha joined the hug. Jean and Connie were never familiar with her, so they simply watched in the background with a smile at the sobbing group.

The young woman who was supposedly dead could feel a familiar stare coming from a hall, and she let a smile warm her features. Everything was so familiar, yet so unusual.

It took a while to separate from the four, and she was extremely reluctant to do so.

Mikasa, like an innocent little girl, had attached her hand to Petra's left hand, to which had a few of them giggling like children.

Armin stared at the woman before them, someone who was supposed to be dead. "You defied science, Petra _-san."_

Letting out a chuckle, "I suppose you want to know what happened?" This immediately got a nod from the blonde. "Alright, lets all sit down." 

The young woman knew to skip the details that were far too gruesome to say- yes, they had seen far worse, but when it came to an obvious loved one, details could always harm the soul with images they'd never want to witness.

By the end of it, they were all asking questions, specific questions that she felt overwhelmed to answer to.

The overwhelming process of going through everything once again, the screech, the Titan's look, the horrid pain enveloping her entire body.

_The last thing she knew, she hit the ground; and there was a yell, more like an order than anything. She was soon consumed by her own nightmares._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes.
> 
> Passing out once again.
> 
> Sometimes, you just gotta pass out.


	4. Darkness Swallows Light

It was all dark, the abyss flowing around her. She could've welcomed it, if it not were the aches surrounding her entire being. She wondered if she was dead, if she was possibly swirling around in death's chambers. It was comforting, for the time being, she assumed that if she dared to awaken her tired mind, she would be sucked into a darker life.

The darkness soon formed, shifting into different shapes. A singular shape that stood out to her was the shape of a woman, a figure with the same of her own. Details were out of the picture, yet there was no colour. It was as though she was a mere soul, that woman.

She reached forward, pressing her hand against the possible soul's cheek, and it did the same with her.

For a moment, she thought they were one in the same, until she stared deeper into the other's eyes; there was a hint of blood lust that she couldn't comprehend.

The light in the woman's eyes were dulled- as if she were dead.

Without wasting a mere second after the daring eye contact, Petra hit the ground, the woman screeching loudly after it had pushed her. Then, a Titan's foot squashed the woman, as if it were a mere bug that didn't deserve to live any longer. She scurried away, sobbing as she then met a soulless Titan's eyes. They were a soft blue, yet the story behind them were edgier than a knife.

"Annie..?" She choked out. She knew those eyes anywhere from her former comrade, the betrayal creeping through her body.

If a Titan could smile, the Titan did.

Petra let a screech tear through her throat, raw fear edged onto her entire being. Soon after the sound that tore out of her erupted, the scene had begun shifting. She watched as, one by one, her comrades were all disposed of. If her mental state was already bad, it was even worse, watching the blood spill out of her comrades like syrup once again, their organs seeping from open slits of their bodies.

Reaching forward, she went to save them. She wanted to protect them. To help them.

Within her weakened moment, the soulless woman from earlier had came from a random placement of water underneath Petra, bringing it's hands up into the air, wobbling with blood oozing from it's body with no amount of wounds to be seen on it, and began to choke her.

She fought for her life, yet the whispers of the darkness claimed her mind.

They asked her why, why she was fighting, when she had no-one left to fight for?

The peace she craved would never exist, the ending she wanted with the one she truly fell for, the one she wanted to have a _family_ with, would be dead soon anyways.

Their whispers increased;

_"You're fighting for a dead man."_

_"Those scars you bare are a warning."_

_"Why keep fighting for the Corps who simply walked away when you were still alive?"_

_"Did you ever care to think that, perhaps, you would be useless to them now?"_

_"They'll throw you away."_

_"The wolves are hungry."_

**_"The Titans are starving."_ **

Petra didn't want to hear it anymore. She wanted to escape. Escape from the world, from this dream, this horrid and possible afterlife she had been damned to.

She had taken many lives with her blades, not just mere Titans, human beings.

Cradling her hands to her chest, she sobbed.

Wishing was a fool's happening, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to awaken from this damned place, to fulfill her dream- to _make_ her dream happen. She'd fight for it. _She'd fight for Levi._

_If it was the last time she would ever stand, she knew she would stand for what she believed in._

_If it was the last time she would ever fight, she would fight for what she loved._

_If it was the last time she cried, she would make sure those tears weren't used above a comrade's body; never again._

Dragging her body from the bed, she sucked in a gasp of air to fill her lungs. There were a pair of hands on the side of her bed that jumped to grab her and push her back down to keep her still.

Adrenaline pumping, she immediately classified this person as a threat, and attempted to throw a punch, before she realized what she was about to punch; Humanity's Strongest Soldier. That would have been a rather bad idea, wouldn't it, Petra? She cleared her throat, her fist barely making a brush against his cheek, as he stared down at her with widened, silver, eyes. He kept his hands tight on her shoulder, never making a move to.. well, move. She stared up at him with anticipation of a fool.

Carefully retracting her fist, her adrenaline that once rushed through her veins like a bustling amount of drugs retreated, as she lowered it onto the bed. He still made no movement, staring at her. Yet, his eyes were no longer wide, simply staring like a fool who was caught in a trap with the stars. Which, confused her, as she was no star- at least, to anyone else.

Drawing away from her, he held his hands out, to possibly show he wasn't a threat. The walls he had crumbled down just moments before was rebuilding itself efficiently and rather quickly. She didn't like that, she preferred the unguarded version of him.

Sitting up, slowly this time, she murmured out an apology. "My sincerest apologies, _Heichou_! I don't know what came over me." She was surprised with her voice, hoarse- as if she was screaming in her sleep. Recalling her chilling nightmare, she felt a sting of cold rush through her body. "Did.. Did something happen..?" Hoping to any God that dared to exist for the cruel world that it wasn't because her nightmare affected her physical body, she held her arms together closely, as if to protect herself from sort of insulting weapon that dared to drag across her body. Alike a Titan's claw, perhaps? She shuddered.

Levi cleared his throat, grabbing his now cold tea from the bedside. This was becoming too familiar, even if it was only the second time, he mused, with him being there for every movement she made. Then again, it wasn't like everyday that someone you fell in love with rose from the dead- or, from a deep slumber- so he had a reason to be out of character. He began to dully explain, "You were having quite a tantrum in your sleep, Ral. Are you sure you need to go into duty, still?"

It wasn't like the man was dense or deaf, he knew what she had mumbled to him on the horse, he knew his feelings for her were still there- and _growing_ nonetheless-, yet, despite his hopes that she would continue, for his sake like she had once spoken out for, he couldn't bring himself to put her on the line of death. He was, by all means, not her father- that'd be _very_ bad if he was- nor anyone who could command over her, right now at least, so it really was her choice, but he needed her to think more clearly about it rather than a simple confession of absolute dedication to her captain.

Petra curled her fingers tightly into the covers, glaring at her lap. "Must we go over this again, _Heichou-_ " He cleared his throat. She let out a soft sigh, " _Levi_? I've told you that I'm coming back, and nobody can prevent me from doing so. I'll get over these childish nightmares soon enough." She looked up from the covers, desperate from sort of understanding.

What delighted her was that it was reciprocated. The understanding, of course.

Levi nodded at the woman in the bed, "Is that your final say in the matter?"

"Yes."

"You'll start your training with the new weaponry by tomorrow. Four-Eyes or myself will train you, whichever you pick."

Quickly after he spoke, she replied with. "I'd prefer you, Levi."

Her eyes went wide, he choked on his coffee, and Armin- whom was in the doorway- stared. She tried to save herself with, "I- That didn't- I mean- that's not- Not that-" Needless to say, she was not saved, as Armin raised a brow.

"Did I-.. interrupt something?" The blonde boy shyly asked, holding his hands together and fiddling with them.

Both the man and the woman became defensive, "No!" They stared at the other after they had screamed the same thing, and Petra simply curled into herself, her face looking alike a rose. A damn beautiful one, Levi could add.

Levi stood, grumbling as he walked off, before raising his voice at the taller boy. "You're on cleaning duty for the rest of the fucking month, brat. And fix me some fucking coffee, bring it to my office." He growled, shoving the cup of tea that was cold into the boy's chest. He turned toward the female, who was gazing up at him with a twinkle in her eyes that he did his damnedest to ignore. "I'll check on you later, Ral."

Feeling a tad bolder, she swallowed thickly as she spoke. "Looking forward to the visit, Levi."

He nodded, and Armin stood there like a dumbfounded child whose mother just told him that a child was in her stomach. Not long before that did Armin get called out for not getting the coffee started for the Captain, and he immediately ran off to fix it. Petra let out a little giggle, and Levi lingered there a little longer to only lift himself with her presence.

The man told himself it was only because she was gone for too long, and she was a comrade he held dearly.

The woman told herself that her heart was only beating quickly because she was happy, not because of her Captain.

_Yet, they fooled no-one except for themselves._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ew, romance.
> 
> Eh, who am I kidding, I have a girlfriend. But, ew, romance between characters that I wrote about that aren't mine. 
> 
> Lord help the cringiest fanfiction ever found on Archive of Our Own, this one.

**Author's Note:**

> What more can I say?
> 
> I started on one thing, got good at it, then I gave up, and here this thing is. I made it on a run of coffee.
> 
> Swag, my dearest friend, ENJOY THIS. I WENT THROUGH PAIN, FOR YOU. You better comment or I swear to fuck I'll throw the two Ackerman at you.
> 
> And, this is fucking shit. You suck, Swag.


End file.
